Partner: Mathematics teacher

Values items shared with the partner and his responses

1. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which would you rather have with you?

_2_the Bible

_3_a tell-all novel

_1__the history of civilization

2. Which of these jobs would you most prefer?

_2_corporate executive

_1_director of an inner city project

_3_coordinator of social action projects for a liberal suburban church

3. Which would you be more concerned about as you grew older?

_2_lung cancer

_3_overweight

_1_declining vision
4. Which would you prefer to give up if you had to?

_1_economic freedom

_3_religious freedom

_2_political freedom

5. Which of these problems do you think is the greatest threat in the near future?

_1_overpopulation

_3_global warming

_2_terrorism

6. Which would you want to do to end a war?

_1_join the service

_2_send a letter to Washington (to a representative/senator)

_3_march on Washington

7. Which of these people would you have the most difficulty introducing to your parents?

_2_a convicted felon

_1_a Muslim extremist

 _3_a white supremacist

8. Which is the worst?

_3_an atheist

_2_a terrorist

_1_a traitor to his/her country

9. If your friend had written a lousy book and asked you for your opinion, you would tell him/her

_1_the whole truth

_3_as much as you think he/she can stand

_2_what he/she wants to hear

10. Which spouse would bother you the most?

_3_one who interrupts his/her mate

_2_one who spends too much money

_1_one who keeps a messy house

Reflection

History of relationship

The partner in this report is my mathematics teacher. He taught me when I was in school, and I

know him for many years now. He is also 20 years older than me. He was not only my teacher

but my counselor and advisor too.

Values contribute to similarities in our relationship

In the third statement, both of us are concerned about our declining vision due to old age. This is

due to the reason that vision is the most important thing in a person's life. Loss of vision is feared

by everyone. In the fifth statement, both of us feel that overpopulation poses a big threat to the

future as it is the root cause of all other problems in the economy. Since my partner's generation,

the problem of overpopulation is rising and has caused many problems till now. Both of us feel

that a traitor is more harmful than anybody else because he carries more information than the

terrorist, and he will be more harmful if he betrays.

Values contribute to differences in our relationship

In the first statement, I preferred to take a Bible with me as I feel that I have poor knowledge of

the religious values, but my partner said that he will study the history of civilization as he is of

other generation and is more interested in remembering the past. In the second statement, I

preferred to be a corporate executive but my partner said that he will like to be a director. There

is a difference between his career goals and my career goals. In the fourth statement, I am willing

to give up my freedom of religion more easily, but my partner is willing to give up his economic

freedom more easily. This may be due to the fact that he places more value to religion and he
cannot change his faith and believes for anything but I believe that practicing any religion does

not matter much. My partner believes that joining the service will end the war, but I feel that a

march will be louder as it will involve more people that those who joins service. My partner says

that it will be more difficult for him to introduce a Muslim extremist to his family as he and his

family may be orthodox but I feel that it will be more difficult for me to introduce a convicted

fellow to my parents. My partner says that the spouse who keeps the house messy is more

difficult to deal with, but I feel that the one who interrupts is more difficult to handle. This is due

to the reason that the people in my generation need more freedom and does not like anyone

interfering with it.

Importance of values and generational differences in defining the nature of this relationship

This shows that there are more differences between the two of us. We have the generation gap,

and we think differently. Also, our priorities, values, beliefs are very different from each other.

Since we have been brought up and taught differently, so we carry varied opinions, and this

affects our relation too.